January 31st: Snowdrops appear

Traditionally, on average, today is the day the first snowdrops appear. They often appear much earlier, though - this photograph was taken in my garden two weeks ago:

10 things you may not know about snowdrops:

1. Snowdrops belong to the Galanthus family. Galanthus derives from the Greek gála "milk", and ánthos "flower". The name snowdrop does not mean 'drop' of snow, it means drop as in eardrop – an old word for an earring. They have also been known as Candlemas Bells or Bulbous Violet.
2. We think of them as native British Flowers, but they were introduced to Britain around sixteenth century, probably from Italy, by monks. This is why they grow so often in old monastery gardens. Some species are found in Russia and the Middle East. The first written record of snowdrops growing wild in Britain dates from 1770, and the first of cultivated garden snowdrops is dated 1597. 
3. Although snowdrops grow happily in the wild, most wild ones would have started off growing in a garden. Large numbers of wild snowdrops are an indication that there would have been a dwelling on that site once.
4. According to legend, the snowdrop became the symbol of hope when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Eve was about to give up hope that the winter would ever end, when an angel appeared. The angel transformed some of the snowflakes into snowdrop flowers, to show that winter does eventually give way to the spring.
5. In some churches on Candlemas Day or the Feast of the Purification (February 2nd), especially in Lady Chapels, the image of the Virgin Mary is taken down and snowdrops spread in its place.
6. Despite this positive image, there are some superstitions attached to snowdrops. It is said to be unlucky to bring them indoors, and in some parts of the country a single snowdrop blooming in the garden is believed to be a sign of an impending disaster. In the West of England, it is believed that snowdrops should not be brought into a house before the first chickens are hatched, or all the eggs will be spoiled.
7. In folklore, the snowdrop is meant to represent 'the passing of sorrow'. Snowdrops, along with carnations, are also the birth flower for those born in January.
8. It was suggested by Andreas Plaitakis and Roger Duvoisin in 1983 that the magical herb moly that appears in Homer's Odyssey is actually snowdrop. Snowdrops contain galantamine, which, as anticholinesterase, could have been an antidote to Circe's poisons.
9. In 2011 a very rare double snowdrop, Galanthus 'EA Bowles', sold for £357 on E-bay - the highest recorded price ever paid for a snowdrop bulb.
10. William Wordsworth was famous for writing about daffodils, but he also wrote poems about snowdrops: 

"I began 
My story early, feeling, as I fear, 
The weakness of a human love for days 
Disowned by memory, ere the birth of spring 
Planting my snowdrops among winter snows."
from The Prelude: Book 1: Childhood and School-time

"... these frail snowdrops that together cling,
And nod their helmets, smitten by the wing
Of many a furious whirl-blast sweeping by...” 
On Seeing a Tuft of Snowdrops in a Storm by William Wordsworth.